Roll stop for wringers



08. 14,1941. w. o. DUKE v 2,258,848

ROLL STOP FOR WRINGERS Filed Jan. 18, 1939 INVENTOR.

BY )fi/M a aw,

ATTORNEYfi.

Patented on. 14, 1941 ROLL STOP FOR WRlNGEB-S Wiiiiam 0. Duke, Salem, Ohio, assignor to Mullins Manufacturing Corporation, Salem, Ohio, a corporation of New York Application January 18, 1939, Serial No. 251,453

5 Claims.

In power driven wringers, such as are commonly in household use in connection with washing machines, it is the common practice to provide a quick release mechanism of such character that, if any foreign body becomec accidentally caught between the power driven rolls, the operator may, by an instinctiv action, cause a quick release of the pressure of one roll upon the other and, in many such devices, provision is made for automatically disconnecting the power driven roller from the power source upon release of the roll pressure.

The object of my present invention is to produce a very simple yet effective mechanism which may be readily embodied in power driven wringers having quick release pressure mechanisms, by which connection between the power source and the power driven roller may be automatically established or disestablished, depending upon the condition of the roll pressure mechanism.

The accompanying drawing illustrates an embodiment of my invention:

Fig. 1 is an axial section of a wringer embodying a quick release roll pressure means, the details of which form no part of the present invention and also embodying the clutching mechanism which is the subject of my present invention;

Fig. 2 is an elevation on the parts shown at the right hand end of Fig. 1 just inside the end plate of the main frame and showing the upper spring carrying bar and the lower part of the main frame in vertical section;

Fig. 3 is an elevation of the inner active face of the clutching element;

Fig. 4 an elevation of the rocker actuator; and Fig. 5 an enlarged fragmentary view of the power receiving clutch and rocker arm. In the drawing l0 indicates the main base frame which, at each end, is provided with vertical channels ll adapted to receive the bearing blocks l2 for the shaft i3 of the lower roller i4 and bearing blocks i5 for the shaft l6 of the upper roller ll, said bearing blocks being laterally confined in their respective channels II and vertically removable therefrom.

The main frame is supplemented by a removable top bar 18 which carries a spring IS, the ends of which, when impressed upon the bearing blocks l5, serve to press the upper roll i'i upon the lower roll l4 with the desired pressure when the cross bar I8 is in its seated position across the upper end of the base frame. In the present instance, the base frame I0, at one end.

near the top, is provided with a pin 20 arranged to be received in the perforation 2! formed through one end wall of the cross bar l3, which is conveniently a hollow sheet metal structure as indicated.

At the opposite end of bar I8, I have shown a depending lever pivoted at 26 to bar l8. Pivoted at an intermediate point 21 of lever 25 is a link 29 which is pivoted at 30 upon ears 3| carried by the adjacent end wall of the base frame, the arrangement and proportions of the parts being such that, as-lever 25 is swungdownwardly by hand, said lever, with link 29, acts as a toggle to draw top bar It downwardly against the resistance of spring l9 and thereby press roll l-i upon roll i4, and such that when lever 25 reaches the limit of its downward movement, pivot 21 has passed the dead center of the toggle 28-33-21 so that, except for the mechanism now to be described, the toggle would be in a stable position against the tension of spring l9. As lever 25 nears the limit of its downward movement, it engages and stresses a spring 32 carried by the base frame and moves the lower end of said spring into position to be engaged and retained by spring latch 33 which may be retracted by the action of cam lever 34 manipulated by either one of identical push bars 35, 35 arranged at opposite sides of the base frame parallel with the rolls and carried by levers pivoted at 34'. The arrangement is such that spring 32 is comparatively light with only sufficient force to kicklever 25 outwardly just past its dead center so that resistance can be overcome, upon manipulation of the push bars 35-35, by a very light pressure, much lighter than would be required if, at the time of its release, lever 25 was being restrained against outward movement induced by the tension of spring l9.

At the bottom of the guide I I which is nearest the connection 202l a portion of the base frame is turned up to form the upwardl presented lip and upon the upper edge of this lip, I rest the rocker R, conveniently formed of sheet metal to provide two parallel arms 4l-4l which straddle th adjacent bearing block i2 and two symmetrical arms 42--42, connected by cross web 43, which straddle a power receiving clutch 44 which is coaxial with shaft l3 of the lower roll. Each of the arms 42, at its upper end, is provided with an inturned lip 42 which bears against a thrust ring 45 engaging an annular flange 44' of clutch 44. The inner face of clutch element 44 is provided with radial notches formed to circumferentially interlockwith the cross pin ll carried by shaft ll. Element 44 is provided with an internal axial chamber 4 within which is nested a spring 41 which abuts the outer end of shaft ll and biases the clutch element 44 to inactive position, said bias also serving to rock rocker R clockwise (Fig. 1). Resting upon the tips of arms ll of rocker R are the shoulders 43-49 of a U-shaped push bar 50 which is vertically slidable in guide ll alongside of bearing blocks l2 and it. the said vertical arms 50 straddling the shafts I3 and II and each arm. at its upper end, being provided with an outwardly projected finger II which projects outwardly through a slot 52 formed in the top edge of the side wall of the base frame so that the lower edges of the side walls of top bar I8, on

the descent of the left hand end of said bar to its bridging position, engage the push bar to push it downwardly to cause rocker R to swing counter-clockwise to shift clutch 44 in opposition to its spring bias into active interlock with pin ll of shaft l3.

It will be noted that the push bar lies in a vertical plane quite close to the hinge axis of the top bar I8 formed by pin and perforation 2| so that top bar l8 forms a relatively high powered lever acting upon the push rod and the manipulation of the clutch 44 to its active position requires the exertion of a practically inappreciable amount of force.

The rocker R merely rests upon the upper edge of the portion 40 of the base frame so that it has only a one-way engagement therewith. Likewise, the push bar 50 rests upon the arm ll of rocker R and has only a one-way engagement therewith. Because of these one-way engagements, these parts may be very readily assembled in the mechanism and are as readily withdrawn therefrom.

I claim as my invention:

1; In a wringer, the combination of a U-shaped base frame having a vertical bearing-guide at each end, a top bar for bridging between the upper ends of the bearing guides, connecting means anchoring one end of the top bar to the subjacent portion of the base frame and permitting vertical swing of the top bar relative to the base frame, quickly releasable means for anchoring the other end of the top bar to the base frame in depressed bridging position, hearing blocks in the said guides for upper and lower rolls, a lower roll journalled in the lower bearings, a clutch element shiftable axially of the lower roll, clutch means carried by the lower roll and axially mateable with said clutch element, a spring biasing the clutch element to inactive position, a rocker fulcrumed in the base frame with one arm engaging the clutch element in opposition to its spring bias, and a vertically shiftable push bar slidably'mounted in the base frame with one end in engagement with the rocker and the other end so positioned as to be separably engaged by the top bar and shifted to move the clutch element through the rocker to clutching engagement with the lower roll only when the top bar is in its lowest bridging position on the main frame.

2. A wringer of the character specified in claim 1 and wherein the push bar lies in a vertical plane between the quickly releasable mechanism for the top bar and the opposite end and nearer said opposite end.

3. A wringer of the character specified in claim 1 and wherein therocker is fulcrumed by a oneway engagement with a portion of the base frame and the push bar rests freely upon an arm of the -rocker.

upper ends of the bearing guides, connecting means anchoring one end of the' top bar to the subjacent portion of the base frame and permitting vertical swing of the top bar relative to a lower roll iournalled in the lower bearings, a

clutch element shiftable axially of the lower roll, clutch means carried by the lower roll and axially mateable with said clutch element, a spring nested between the lower roll and clutch element biasing the clutch element to inactive position, a rocker resting on, but without attachment to, an" upwardly-presented portion of the base frame at the lower end of one of said bearing guides with one arm engaging the clutch element in opposition to its spring bias, and a push rod vertically slidable in the bearing guide adjacent the rocker, said push rod resting on one arm of the rocker without attachment thereto and extending upwardly to a position to be'separably engaged and depressed by the top bar in its descent to bridging position to shift the clutch element to active position against its spring bias.

WILLIAM O. DUKE. 

